Costs Delay Fillmore City Hall Project

Frustrated in their efforts to build a new city hall, the Fillmore City Council has blamed construction delays on the architect overseeing the project, which would serve as temporary shelter for up to 26 businesses displaced or damaged in the Northridge earthquake.

The architect, W. John Kulwiec of Camarillo, had estimated that the project would cost about $2.2 million. But construction bids have come in at more than $1 million more than Kulwiec’s projection, prompting the city to delay the start of construction for at least two months, City Manager Roy Payne said.

Officials now estimate the building won’t be finished until 1996.

At a council meeting Tuesday night, Councilman Roger Campbell said the city erred in trusting Kulwiec’s figures.

“I feel we’ve been led down a primrose path,” he said. “This is more than a city hall. I’m real upset about this.”

Campbell said before the meeting that he considered urging the council to fire Kulwiec but did not want to delay the project any further.

“We’re in a real jam,” he said before the meeting.

Appearing before the council Tuesday, Kulwiec said he cannot shoulder the blame entirely. He said he based his cost estimates on a construction market that has been subject to fluctuation in recent months.

“I’m embarrassed,” he told the council. Some of the difference could be attributed to a shortage of contractors during a brisk earthquake-repair climate, he added.

Many merchants have faced the latest delay with a sense of stoic resignation.

“After a while, you learn to take these things one day at a time,” said Dale Crockett, owner of Crockett Photography. “We’ve had to survive for almost a year under these tents.” Crockett and nine merchants remain under government-erected shelters in Central Park.

Several of the merchants, including Crockett, had hoped to move out of the uncomfortable tents and into a new building by summer. Merchants in trailers as well as businesses in stores that need retrofitting were also looking forward to moving into the new building this year.

“I’m not sure if I’ll ever find a (permanent place),” said Manuel Victoria, owner of Victoria’s Shoe Service in Central Park. “In the meantime, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Payne said Wednesday that he will recommend that Kulwiec’s proposal be pared and another round of bidding occur. He added that he will propose that the bidding stay open longer to entice more bidders. The City Council will vote on his recommendation Tuesday.

“I want the integrity of the building to stay the same,” Mayor Linda Brewster said. “I’d like to see how they plan to save $1 million.”

Kulwiec, a former Santa Paula planning commissioner, said Wednesday that he understands the city’s frustration.

“I don’t blame them,” he said. “I’m frustrated with myself.

“It’s a real strange (construction) market right now. It seems like there’s a lot of work going around and there are not enough tradesmen.”

Payne said Kulwiec has successfully completed several previous projects in the city, including designing the Bank of A. Levy. That failed to hearten some council members.

“I feel as if we had the rug pulled out from under our feet,” Brewster said.

After the January earthquake, the federal government offered to give Fillmore $1.2 million for a new city hall if displaced merchants were allowed to move in first and stay for up to a year. Afterward, the city could have the building.

Fillmore officials readily agreed.

“A new city hall has been on the city’s wish list for years,” Brewster said. “But it was a capital improvement project we couldn’t afford.”

The current City Hall on Sespe Avenue is old, cramped and shares space with the Ventura County sheriff’s substation. Several municipal offices are spread around town.

“This was a fantastic deal,” Brewster said. “It was going to jump-start downtown.”

The city awarded Kulwiec a $165,000 contract to design the building. He drew up plans for a two-story, 15,000-square-foot building that would be located in Central Park.

But the lowest of the five bids the city received, from Camarillo’s HMH Construction Co., was for $3.25 million, Payne said. The highest bid came in at $3.95 million.

“(Kulwiec) gave us a bad document,” Campbell said.

And if merchants displaced in the city of Santa Cruz after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in Northern California are any indication, it may be a while longer before Fillmore merchants recover fully.

Said Marge Alvick of the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce: “The last merchants moved out of their (tents) about a year ago.”